On-Site Shenanigans
by Lucky T. Cloud
Summary: A collection of random snippets wherein the Commander and his T-Dolls engage in daily shenanigans. Some silly. Some Sad. Some downright horrific. You can never tell with the various odd quirks and traits the T-Dolls have hard-coded into their beings.
1. Chapter 1

Dorms

"Explain"

The masked commander asked as he tapped a foot impatiently against the floor. Before him stood a few T-Dolls. In particular were Suomi, DP-28, PPSh and SKS. All of them were covered in soot and burns and their clothes were in various states of disrepair.

"She started it" Suomi stated with all the impetuousness of an angry child as she pointed at SKS.

The commander turned to look at SKS. One gasmask brow raised in fidgeted and squirmed on the spot under his scrutiny.

"It was... an accident?" She shrugged helplessly. The commander turned to look at the dorm building they had come from. Or at least, what was left of it after the fire.

"To be fair. Suomi was being unnecessarily hostile towards us" DP-28 tried to interject in a placating tone. Suomi shut her down with a glare that, if it were directed at any lesser being, likely would have killed on the spot. In DP-28's case she simply shut her mouth and stepped back. The commander sighed, palming his mask in frustration.

"Where did you even get the molotovs? None of you use Incendiary weapons!"

Conveniently, as the commander said this, Mosin Nagant was carted by on a stretcher. She was covered head to toe in soot and burn marks. She coughed once and turned to the commander as the ones pushing her cart stopped.

"Commander. Remind me. **Never**. To give Suomi my molotovs again?"

As one everyone turned to Suomi sans Mosin, who was unable to and coughed out more smoke. Whether that was from inhaling smoke or her internal parts overheating was unknown. The Finnish smg for her part looked away, whistling innocently. The commander sighed nodded at Mosin who mumbled a quiet thank you before being carted away and turned to Suomi.

"Okay. New rule. Your never allowed to dorm with any russian T-Dolls. At all"

* * *

Quirks

The Commander stared at the screen in concern. The most recent battle had been a victory and the girls would be coming home relatively unscathed aside from a few scratches here and there. So his concern lay not in that. Rather his concern lay in the behaviors the girls showed after victory.

"M4?"

"Yes Commander?" Came the whispery voice of the assault rifle from next to him. He yelped, nearly jumping a foot into the air in surprise.

"Sweet mother of Jimmy Hendrix M4! You scared the crap out of me" He placed a gloved hand over his chest to calm his rapidly beating heart while M4 looked down shyly.

"S-sorry commander. What did you need?" He took a few more breaths to calm himself before straightening his posture and walking over to M4. Placing a hand on her head he ruffled her hair affectionately.

"Sorry. I might've overreacted a bit there. Your pretty good at going by unnotcied when you want to huh?" M4 blushed at the contact. The sensation bringing feelings of warmth and slight embarrassment to her before he removed his hand.

"Anyway. I wanted to ask... What is it with the girls when they win skirmishes? I mean... Look" He pointed to the screen. The camera feed showed MDR, pulling out her phone and carelessly dropping her gun to the ground to browse whatever poor unfortunate Seddit forum she'd found this time. When her gun landed it went off, firing a shot and accidentally killing a dummy doll of a nearby T-doll. To which said T-doll reacted with a scream and a string of german curses. MDR continued to browse and shitpost either purposefully or unintentionally ignoring MP-40 cursing her out while she cradled her now dead dummy doll in her hands.

'Ouch... Well. So much for walking out relatively unscathed'

"I... don't quite see what's the immediate problem commander?" M4 was equally concerned but confused.

"I mean. That. Their behaviour. I understand that all of you have your own quirks and all but seriously. This is getting a bit ridiculous. I mean look! Look at this!" The camera feed switched to a different Echelon. This one had Ribeyrolles in it and she was practically on the ground having an anemic episode. Her Dummy dolls were in similar states and the other members seemed to be looking exasperated.

"Oh great. It's like with G11 all over again. Alright. Who's carrying her back to the Chopper?" Came the voice of UMP-45. A chorus of Not It's came from around her. The first and most vocal of which sounded to be 416. The unfortunate T-Doll who ended up responsible for carrying Ribeyrolles and her 2 other dummy dolls was an smg. Type-79 if the commander recalled correctly.

"What! But I can't carry all of her dummy dolls! I only have one!" She gestured to her own dummy doll, still stuck in her signature victory pose of a martial arts stance, unfortunately for this one her gun hadn't landed in her holster like the original's had and had instead bonked her on the head stock first. It still lay on the ground next to her.

"Then do multiple trips. Carry one and have the dummy carry two. Blow one up so it can't be scavenged by SF and you only need to carry two. Whatever. Just make sure that if you do the last one you don't blow up the original. The Commander is gonna throw a fit if you do" UMP-45 said over her shoulder as the rest of them began walking towards the closest heliport for extraction. Leaving the poor chinese smg with the duty of carrying the anemic French assault rifle.

"I mean. I can understand a bit of carelessness here and there. But why in the name of whatever dieties and higher powers still exist above did they make a T-Doll with **ANEMIA!?** Who had the genius idea of doing that!?"

The commander's ranting however was interrupted by the sound of comically loud sipping. They both turned to look at the nearby table where they had set down a coffee machine. Sitting there was Persica, straw in her mouth. A straw which she was using to quickly drain an entire pot's worth of _freshly made_ coffee. As in _still piping hot_. Standing behind her was Thompson, who was passing by to deliver a report of a recent successful logistics mission when she stopped to stare in awe and fear at the sight of the thin slip of a woman draining another pot of coffee. As is evident from the several other empty pots and packets of coffee beans that lay next to the machine.

"..." The commander stared in silence. Awed, terrified and concerned. How was she not suffering Caffeine poisoning with that much already chugged down!?

"..." M4 shared in the silence and emotions the commander felt. She also shared similar concerns for her pseudo-mother figure.

"..." Thompson stared in a similar state of emotion. Her pocky stick falling out of her mouth and onto the floor.

At this point Persica had finished with the pot and was sipping up the last few drops at the bottom. She sat up straight, straw still in her mouth and lightly shoved the empty pot to the side with the rest of them. Then she reached under the table and produced yet _another_ pot as well as _another_ bag of coffee beans. From the looks that Thompson gave her and the area beneath the table where she'd pulled those items from while she prepared another pot it was either Persica had stored coffee pots and bags of coffee beans under the table without anyone's notice or she had somehow produced said items out of thin air. Neither theories were good.

"... Remind me M4. She helped create T-Dolls to begin with. Yes?" Persica was resting her hands on the table, straw still in her mouth, looking like a cat staring into an aquarium full of fish.

"Yes. Yes she did" Thompson at this point had come up to the commander, handed him her reports and shot a quick salute before going off to the dorms to rest and get away from the insanity. The commander absentmindedly set the papers down on the nearby table.

"Uhuh. I see. That answers a lot of questions. Now how did you and AR-15 turn out so... normal?" They were interrupted by the sound of a gun being fired from the console. They turned to look at the screen to see Type-97 leaning on one of her Dummy Dolls for support as she had accidentally blown off her own leg while she did her little celebratory gun spin. While the safety was off.

_"Ouch! That's... Gonna leave a mark... the Commander isn't gonna like this..."_ M4 Turned to the commander with a grave look of concern on her face.

"_I honestly don't know commander_"

* * *

Gifts

"416?"

"Yes. What happens to be the matter... 45?" 416 Asked as she tried to peak around the massive pile of various cakes, sweets and candies stacked high in the arms of whoever spoke to her.

"Yes. This is 45" 416 looked the pile over once, twice then settled on the middle of it all for lack of anything to properly focus on.

"I see. What did you need?"

"I seem to have been given a rather large amount of gifts."

"I see... I assume that The Commander gave them to you?" The two began walking down the corridor towards their dorm.

"Yes. How did you know?"

"Well he came to me and Miss Kalina for assistance earlier in recycling and trading in all of our old and unused furniture for those very same gifts"

"I... see..."

"Is something troubling you about this? Shouldn't you be appreciative of the gifts he's given at the very least?"

"Oh. I am indeed. I just would've liked it more with less sobbing, tearful apologies and blatant invasions of personal space on The Commander's part" At this point they had entered the dorm where UMP-9 and G11 were waiting. UMP-9 Perked up from where she lay upside down on a couch in boredom when they entered.

"Ah! 45! The Commander came by to apologize for earlier. Something about sobbing, tearful apologies, blatant invasions of personal and excessive headpats" 416 turned to give 45 a look.

"I know what I said. And besides. IDW and G41 should be enough of an indication how good those are"

"Fair point. Though I'd like to ask. Why the special treatment?"

"His only reasoning was to make up for all the times he hadn't been there. Kind. But unnecessary"

"And yet you accepted these gifts?"

"I did not say the gifts were unnecessary"

* * *

**AN: So this was thought of and made over lunch and finished when I got home from college today. Random little snippets. No idea if anyone is gonna read this but updates might be sporadic and dependent on when inspiration strikes. Which tends to be rare. Anyway. I hope anyone who read this enjoyed it in some way. **

**Lucky, signing off.**


	2. Chapter 2

Overprotective

"Yo! Commander. Can I have a little chat with you for a bit?"

The voice of M16 snapped the masked Commander from his ruminations. He looked away from the window looking over the courtyard of the base and down the hall to see M16 walking towards him.

"M16. Nice to see you. What did you need?"

As she got close to him she roughly threw an arm over his shoulder and started pulling him down the hall. The grip on his shoulder was painful as she gave him a smile full of teeth with an intent that dripped with an acidic kind of politeness.

"Uh... Where are we going? Also your gonna break my shoulder if you keep squeezing. Please stop."

"Let's go somewhere a little more... private... shall we?" And so they walked. Winding through various hallways while M16 made small talk about random topics.

The weather.

"So. Nice weather we're having huh?"

"I mean it's as nice as it can get for a post-apocalyptic world like ours."

Politics.

"So what's your opinion on the russian government?"

"I never took you to be the type to be interested in that kind of stuff."

"I'm not. I'm just trying to make small talk till' we get where we need to go."

"And that is?"

"We'll get there when we get there."

Even alcohol.

"If you ask me Commander? Nothing like a good ol' bottle of Jack Daniels to cool down after a long day of work."

"I'm not exactly the drinking type but I can understand the sentiment."

"Say. You think you can smuggle a couple of bottle for me Commander?"

"_M16. If Helian catches me smuggling alcohol she'd have me fired. Then murdered._"

"Ah. A shame. I would've loved to watch that happen."

"Wait. What?"

Despite the friendly tone she took her grip never lessened and her tone dripped with that same acidic politeness her smile gave. After awhile they came across an empty and unused storage room where M16 unceremoniously threw him down. With a grunt and a shout of surprise the commander fell on his rear while M16 slammed the door closed behind them and locked it.

"Alright. Now that there won't be any witnesses present. Let's have a little chat about what you did with M4 recently..." It was at this point the commander remembered how viciously overprotective of M4 M16 was according to the former. And it was at this point the commander remembered he'd recently given M4 an oath ring. His blood turned cold and his face paled behind his mask as the realization set in.

_"Oh fuck me."_

"If you were offering me a couple of bottles of Jack Daniels as well under different circumstances I'd be happy to accept that offer. Unfortunately. I have issues to settle with you." She roughly picked him up by the collar of his jacket and held him up, her other hand balled into a fist raised to his chin with a soda can held in it. She brought her face closer to his and he felt his heart stop at the sheer animosity and killing intent being directed straight at him.

"If you do anything. And I mean **anything** to M4 that hurts her or makes her cry or upset in any way, shape or form. Current commanding officer or not. I will **crush your skull like a grapefruit and paint this base red with your blood.**" For emphasis, she proceeded to crush the bottle of grape soda she held in her hands. Spraying the contents all over the face and jacket of the commander. Meekly he nodded, fearing for his life. M16 smiled, still full of teeth and acidic politeness, before nodding.

"Good. But. Just so I can make sure you don't break your promise-"

"Oh dear god please DON'T-" She was in the process of raising her now empty free hand in a fist behind her when the door got shot off it's hinges by a shotgun blast.

"Thank you USAS! Onee-san! What are you doing!?" Standing there in the doorway, like a merciful angel descended from heaven was M4. Or at least she looked like one to the commander. M16 waved her free hand as she continued holding the commander in a death grip with her other.

"Oh! M4! Don't worry about me. Big Sis is just disciplining this filthy, degenerate, sister-stealing, perverted bastard. I'll be done soon. Just leave for a bit and I'll deliver him to you!" With each insult hurled at him the Commander seemed to react like he were being physically struck even though M16 hadn't moved her free hand from above her as she spoke.

"Nee-san! Don't bludgeon the commander! You know humans are more fragile than us and we need him to run the base! A-and you know that he gave me an oath ring just a few days ago too!" M16 appeared unphased. Waving her off casually while she shook the commander with her other hand.

"Ah it's fine. It's fine! He'll live! He'll just need to sit in the infirmary for a few days. Maybe a week! I promise I won't hit him _too_ hard" M4 clenched her fists.

"Nee-san... If that's how it is then...Then!" She took a deep breath. And with all her might shouted-

"THEN I WON'T TALK TO YOU ANYMORE!" The sound of glass shattering could be heard clearly. Whether that was something figurative or something had actually shattered within M16 was a mystery for now as she dropped the commander and slowly, like a clockwork statue, turned on the spot to look at her sister.

"A-ah- M4! I-isn't that a bit much? M4? Hey! M4!? DON'T LEAVE YOUR BIG SIS BEHIND!" M4 just pouted, crossed her arms and turned her head away. She then proceeded to turn down the hall and walk away, her sister chasing after her with desperate pleas for forgiveness. USAS in the meanwhile poked at the now prone commander with a stick she'd found in the room.

"Oi. Commander? You okay?"

"Oh. I'm just peachy. Just... _let me take a minute to get the feeling back in my legs... and ignore the need to shit and piss myself in fear._"

Shortly afterwards, while in the infirmary being treated for a fractured shoulder, M4 sat by the commander apologizing for her sister's actions. Said sister sat in the corner drawing circles in the dirt and muttering curses about "Filthy, degenerate, sister-stealing, perverted bastard commander's"

All in all. The matter was settled peacefully.

* * *

Playtime

"Commander?"

"Yes M4?"

M4 paused to look at the sight before her. In the courtyard of the HQ the commander stood tiredly. Repeatedly throwing a frisbee that SOP II and G41 caught, fought over and then brought back to be thrown once again. The last time she'd checked on them had been roughly an hour ago.

"You look... haggard." To say the Commander looked haggard was an understatement. His clothes were in disarray, his posture was slouched, he looked on the verge of falling over and even through the mask one could tell he was exhausted from the audible panting.

"Oh. Hey... M4." He took a deep breath, practically heaving in air like a man who'd nearly drowned, and let it out in a long exhale.

"Sorry I was just... playing with G41 and Sop." He jabbed a thumb in the direction of the said T-Dolls, both of which were engaged in a playful tug-of-war for the frisbee. What surprised M4 was the fact that it hadn't been torn in half or to shreds considering the far above average strength that T-Dolls had.

"Yes. I know. You've been playing with them for the past hour now."

"Really? An hour? I barely noticed. Kinda lost track of time with them constantly asking for more playtime and for headpats" The commander slumped even more. He raised his hands and stared at them like a haunted man.

"The headpats... _they never stop... ever._" M4 gave the commander a comforting smile as she stepped close and patted him on the shoulder.

"There there Commander. Look on the bright side! Sop and G41 seem to be having lots of fun! And while I'm not sure about G41 I know that Sop should be getting tired at this point." The commander looked up at M4, seeing her smile was just what he needed to inject a little bit more energy into his system. Hopefully it'd be enough because as he stood up straight he saw G41 running back at them with the frisbee in her hands.

"Commander! Commander! I got the frisbee! Can I have my reward?" She handed him the frisbee and hopped in place like an excitable child, which was basically what she was. The Commander sighed and acquiesced to her request. Reaching out and gently ruffled her hair with a gloved hand right between the ears on top of her head. She let out a happy noise of joy while her ears twitched happily. The soft feeling of her hair and her ears sometimes batting his hand as they twitched coupled with the feeling of pure unbridled joy coming from her were enough to make him smile through the fatigue. Even M4 was affected, giggling at the wholesome sight before her. At least until she noticed something.

"Wait... Where did Sop go?"

"Coooomaaaaandeeeeer!"

M4 and the Commander looked behind G41. In the distance, kicking up a cloud of dust as she ran, was SOP. Carrying something in her hands that she waved around like a trophy. She skipped and skidded to a halt, flailing her arms to try and stop her momentum and kicking up a big dust cloud that washed over the three. M4 was the first to recover and ask Sop something

"Gah! Sop what were you- Gahk!- doing!?" She hopped in place similar to how G41 did, a manic, happy smile on her face.

"Well G41 got the frisbee so I went and got something else to bring back to you! Tada!" She presented whatever it was she was holding in her hands. It was...

An arm.

A _severed_ arm.

A severed _T-Doll_ arm with sparking circuitry indicating she'd gotten this _fresh_.

M4 gulped. G41 coughed out some of that dust that had gotten into her mouth. The Commander stared dumbfounded and concerned at the severed arm in Sop's hands.

"Sop. Where did you get this arm? Why do you have a severed arm- WHO DID YOU GET THIS FROM!?" She responded while she hopped in place.

"Oh! Well K11 was just kinda hanging out over there testing out her chemicals and explosives and I asked if she could give me a hand for a little bit. She said yes. I took her arm. Here we are!"

"Why did you dismember K11 and bring me her severed arm!?"

"Because I like body parts! So I thought you'd like them too Commander!"

"Well I don't really like severed body parts but I'd like it more if they weren't from FRIENDLY T-DOLLS!" Sop stopped her hopping for a second and held up the arm, her free hand cupping her chin in deep thought as she hummed curiously. Then she seemed to have an epiphany as she snapped her fingers and tossed the arm behind her, nailing K11, who had tried chasing after her, right in the head with it.

"I get it! That means I'll just have to get SF body parts instead! I'm gonna go get some now!" And with a wave goodbye she turned and bolted straight for the exit of the compound. Leaving behind yet another dust cloud, a shocked and confused Commander, a concerned t-doll, another still having a coughing fit and another knocked unconscious by her own severed arm.

"..."

"..."

"Do... Do you think she actually went to look for SF to kill and dismember?"

"Knowing Sop? Most likely. Yes."

"Should we go after her?"

"She can handle herself... hopefully."

"Commander! My eyes hurt!" The Commander placed a hand on G41's shoulder to guide her into the base, M4 following suite behind them.

"There there. It's alright. We'll get you to the lab and M4 and Kalina can help you get cleaned up. As well as make sure that none of that dust got into your internals. That'd be bad for all of us"

Later, when he returned to his office, instead of finding his usual pile of paperwork he'd found a pile of various SF Doll limbs and body parts on his desk with his paperwork strewn across the floor and stained with fluids from said severed body parts.. Sop was forced to clean up the mess.

* * *

**Alright. Gonna just leave it off like this cause I'm pulling a bit of a blank for ideas. If anyone has ideas pm them to me. Might not be able to include all of them. Or get them out at a consistent rate cause college is playing hell with my life right now. Anyway. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry if it might be lackluster. See ya'll in the next update sometime soon. _(Hopefully it doesn't take a month for the next update to come out)_**


	3. Chapter 3

Restrictions

"No"

"But Commander-"

"No"

"This is important-"

"AR-15, for the hundredth time today, NO"

The Commander turned around to face the pink haired AR T-Doll following after him. She stood there, an annoyed expression on in place of her usual calm and indifferent look. She'd been assigned as secretary T-Doll for the week and recently they'd be having troubles with the higher-ups requesting some troubling things from them. Such as personally hiring certain T-Dolls under his command as bodyguards due to their "astounding performance on the field" despite said T-Dolls seeing little to no action in the first place, serving as base personnel rather than combat personnel most of the time. They were being rather persistent as well and it all just reeked of suspicion and malice. The Commander hoped that Helian would handle the problem. Hopefully before any of his more overzealous T-Dolls decided to take action themselves.

"But Commander. This whole problem would be solved quickly if we employ enough explosives to it"

"There are several things wrong with that sentence 15 and you know it" He returned to walking, heading towards their original destination of his office. She looked upset now. Pouting ever so slightly as she kept pace a few steps behind him.

"If you would just lift the restrictions you've placed on me concerning high-explosives usage I could handle this without much of a hassle commander"

"Do I need to remind you of the reasons why we put those on you to begin with?" He said while looking at her over his shoulder.

They both stopped, The Commander turning to look at her with a stern gaze through his mask, not unlike a mother scolding a child, while AR-15 turned away to look at a wall, looking every bit like a guilty child.

"... It was just one time-"

"You wiped nearly half of Grizzly's squad out to kill one ringleader. ONE"

"It was necessa-"

"IT WAS DESTROYER FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! SHE COULDN'T HIT THE BROADSIDE OF A BARN WITH THOSE GRENADE LAUNCHERS OF HERS! WE COULD'VE EASILY HANDLE IT LIKE USUAL BUT NOOOOOOOO! You just had to BRING DOWN THE ENTIRE CLIFF FACE ON HER AND EVERYONE ELSE AROUND HER!" Every couple of words was punctuated with wild and often exaggerated hand gestures. And as much as AR-15 was feeling guiltier with each sentence she couldn't help but find the sight of The Commander gesticulating wildly a funny sight. As he finished his tirade he took a deep breath, looking at the ceiling as if begging the heavens for the strength to carry on, then released it all as his shoulders slumped.

"Look just-... Don't. Alright? Helian is already investigating the problem and Mr. Kryuger most definitely wasn't approving of any of these offers that were extended to us when he heard of them. No need for explosives, no need for collateral damage, no need for taking our superiors hostage and shoving blocks of primed C4 charges in their faces to threaten them. Got it Star?" She flinched slightly at the use of her nickname, still not used to being referred to in such a manner. She looked away, contemplative, then sighed and looked back at the commander.

"Yes Commander. Understood"

"Alright. Thats good" Instinctively his hand reached out for her head and before she could react he had placed his gloved hand on her hair and started lightly petting it.

"I know that your trying to prove yourself. That your not just a civilian T-Doll given a gun and sent to battle. Your part of Anti-Rain for crying out loud of course your not just an A-Doll with a gun. You did good and your still doing great. Just tone it down on the explosives and the extremely danger close detonations" She blushed at the simultaneous praise and admonishment, not sure if she should preen or feel embarrassed. She settled with keeping quiet and enjoying the oddly relaxing feeling of his hand smoothly ruffling through her hair despite it being covered in a fire-proof combat glove.

**A short one that I just wanted to get out to show this thing ain't dead. **


	4. Chapter 4

Alcohol

"Oh dear god what happened here"

The Commander stood at the door leading to the 1st dorm building with a mixed look of horror, surprise and concern under his mask. He had recently acquired some exotic chocolates as a care package from a fellow commander in the neighboring area. A gift for providing assistance above and beyond what was needed. So while he wasn't one for indulging in such chocolates he accepted the gift just to give them to his T-Dolls, specifically the echelons involved.

Unfortunately. Said chocolates had alcoholic content in them. Not alot but when consumed in great enough number would be the equivalent of downing a beer keg's worth of alcohol. Even more unfortunate is that said echelons included 404 and Anti-Rain. Two squads with the most prominent drunkard T-Dolls on base.

"Uh... we can explain?" M4 said with a sheepish grin as she stood in front of him, looking dishevelled and haggard. Behind her the dorm was a mess. Furniture overturned, wallpapers torn down. There was a sizeable hole in the floor where there was once supposed to be a kotatsu, light fixtures were broken and smashed. M16 was hanging from the ceiling by her leg, it being stuck in it somehow. AR-15 was laying on what was once a couch and was now a ruined bullet ridden thing vaguely resembling a couch and the only thing preserving her modesty from the world was a blanket that had been haphazardly thrown on her. SOP was nowhere to be seen and that was the most concerning part to this situation.

"Theres... no need. I knew that past records showed M16 had a habit of being a rather destructive drunk but this?" He gestured once again to the ransacked room.

"This is freaking ridiculous!" M4 nervously scratched her chin with a finger, to which The Commander responded by placing a hand on her head and ruffling her hair. M4 sighed, nearly purring delight at the physical affection, which went unnoticed by The Commander as he surveyed the room again.

"It's fine. It's my fault really for not checking the alcoholic content in these things" He said, holding up a wrapper for one of the alcoholic chocolates which a quarter of the alcoholic content of a shot of tequila each apparently. It was at that moment that gravity reasserted itself over M16 and she fell, unceremoniously, in a heap on top of the metal bench that had somehow managed to survive unscathed so far. Now it was terribly bent out of shape after practically snapping in half when M16 fell on it.

"... Yeah. I think she'll be fine. Let's just call up Persica to examine any damage to these two while we go look for SOP"

"What about the dorm Commander?" M4 asked as they left the building. The Commander shrugged.

"Oh we'll just get a repair team to fix this a-"

They were interrupted when the roof of the 2nd Dorm, which belonged to 404, suddenly sported an impressively sized hole courtesy of an explosion from the inside. Leaping out of the hole was, surprisingly, Sop, carrying a bag of something over her shoulders and had something in her other hand she waved around wildly. While he didn't have the enhanced sight of a T-Doll The Commander could tell with some surety that she was waving around-

"PANTIIIIIIEES! WHOOOOOOOO!" With a holler and a whoop she leaped off the roof of the dorm and began sprinting away from it, the contents of the sack she carried over her shoulder spilling ever more of the aforementioned articles of clothing of various designs, colors and types. She sprinted past The Commander and M4, barely noticing them in her mad, possibly drunken, dash away. A particular pair of panties slapped against the Commander's mask and he pulled it off to examine it, against his better judgement. They were a simple white pair with a pink ribbon in front.

"Huh. That was... something" Suddenly he felt a shiver go down his spine, like someone had just walked over his grave. He turned towards where he felt the sensation come from, the 2nd dorm building, and saw death itself coming out.

Lacking her usual jacket was 416, wielding her gun and glaring bloody murder. Specifically she was glaring bloody murder at him.

_"Oh fuck"_

**"COOOOOOMMAAAAAANDEEEEEEEEEER!"**

"OH FUCK-" He couldn't do much more than push M4 out of the way and to safety as he turned tail and began running as 416 gave chase, wildly firing her gun in the air and, forgoing the grenade launcher attachment for her rifle, was **physically throwing her grenades** at him as if she were shooting them out of her grenade launcher.

M4 sat there on the ground, digi-mind trying and failing to comprehend what had just happened. So, still reeling from the whiplash and feeling the buzz from consuming some of those alcohol chocolates herself, she curled up on the ground and fell asleep. Ignoring the chaos unfolding across the base.

* * *

Instincts

"Sop?"

"Yes Commander?"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm looking for that squirrel!"

The Commander took a second to process what he'd just heard. Then took a look back at Sop. She was on her knees on the floor, hands held up to her chest excitedly with a smile on her face that was practically radiant. Before The Commander greeted her she had been sniffing the floor on all fours like an actual dog. He knew that she had a tendency to remind him of a puppy. An overly excited puppy. An overly excited bloody puppy. And overly excited bloody puppy with a habit of collecting limbs and other extremities from their enemies. But he hadn't expected her to get even the behavioral traits of a puppy down too.

"Uh huh. I see... what is this squirrel your talking about?"

"Oh! You see it's this-"

"Commander! Please! You have to help me! Theres a murderous dog thats been chasing me this whole morning and-" P90 turned the corner, shouting at the commander in a desperate tone and running at him before she spotted Sop. She stopped dead in her tracks, freezing up with a deer in the headlights look on her face as her already panicked turned into abject terror. Sop had frozen stock still too, but for different reasons. Her eyes had dilated, her stance had shifted into one of a predator ready to pounce on it's prey, she was on the hunt.

The moment seemed to last forever until P90 moved just an inch away.

**"SQUIRREL!"**

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Sop leapt, literally leapt from her crouched position towards P90. The smg T-Doll however moved out of the way just in time while Sop tackled one of her holograms instead, passing right through it and grasping empty air. P90 took off at a sprint past The Commander, screaming at the top of her lungs while Sop gave chase, a predatory gleam in her eyes and an excited bloodthirsty grin on her face.

It was only at that moment that the Commander realized exactly what Sop meant by a squirrel.

"Ohhh. Right. Those hair buns. And her codename. Riiiight"

He pulled out an earpiece and attached it to the side of his mask.

"Hello M4? Yes it's important. Sop is on the hunt again and unfortunately the prey is one of our own. Can you rouse the rest of Anti-Rain to help handle this before she ends up dismantling the new recruit? Thank you"

* * *

Incendiaries

"Miss G36? Have you seen the Commander anywhere?"

M4 was beside herself with worry. She'd been unable to contact the Commander for half of the day now and she was already imagining the worst case scenarios.

"Oh. He is currently away on a mission with Echelon 1 in your place"

"Oh. Really?"

"Yes"

"I see..."

"..."

**"WAIT WHAT!?"**

"I believe he said that he wanted to ensure the success of this particular mission personally"

"WHY DID YOU LET HIM DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"

"Believe me M4 we tried to stop him. Unfortunately, he was quite adamant about 'joining in the action once in a while'. If you'd like you can join me in the war room? I was just heading back there to bring snacks for Miss Kalina, who is helping conduct operations in the Commander's stead"

Lacking any real options and wanting to possibly shout some sense into her reckless and impulsive husband she followed after G36. Shortly afterwards they were at the war room where they could observe the battle going on and direct orders when needed.

Not that it was really needed, considering the sounds of maniacal laughter and violence coming from the camera feeds.

"HAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAA! BUUUUUUURN! YEEEES! **BUUUUUUUURN!**"

On the main viewing port was a camera directly observing the Commander, wielding what looked like a jury rigged flamethrower put together using spare parts from the repair bay and laughing like a demented mad man. Right next to him was Vector who, despite being an smg t-doll, completely ignored her weapon and was instead lobbing bottle after bottle of molotov cocktails into the enemy ranks. She too was laughing maniacally, albeit in a more subdued and menacing fashion in comparison to the Commander's loud and unhinged laughter.

"Fufufufufufufu~ Yes~ Burn! BURN!"

"..."

"..."

"Oh! G36! Your back! Did you bring the snacks? Oh and hi there M4! Come here and take a seat! The Commander is kicking ass out there!"


	5. Chapter 5

Worry

It was only seconds after the Commander and 1st Echelon returned from their mission that the Commander was greeted at the landing pad by a very disappointed G36 and a very upset looking M4. Seeing her giving him a little death glare was enough to snap him out of the euphoric high he felt from letting loose and going on a rampage after so long spent sitting behind a desk.

"Oh fuck"

While the other members of 1st Echelon filed out the Commander stood awkwardly by the helicopter as M4 walked up to him with a purpose in her step. He winced, preparing himself for a slap or a punch or whatever manner of punishment she'd inflict on him. Fully ready to take it.

He was surprised when instead of any of those she reached her arms around to embrace him.

On a reflex he wrapped his arms around her too, M4 pushing her face into his chest.

"Please... don't scare me like that..." The Commander sighed, hugging her closer.

"Sorry about that... It's just that recently you've been pushing yourself so much with the recent influx of new T-Dolls on base and the need to get them all up to speed with combat data. I knew that this next mission was important and knowing you you would've taken it without any hesitation despite you obviously needing a rest" M4 looked up at him, staring straight into the lenses of his mask.

"But Commander, we're T-Dolls. We can-"

"-handle it. Yes, I know that and especially because your part of, the leader even, of Anti-Rain your even more so capable of that but that doesn't mean that you have to" He cupped her cheek with one hand, rubbing it with his thumb.

"I know your used to those conditions. You were made for them. But you don't have to deal with that anymore. So help me whatever higher power exists up there I'll insure that at any available opportunity" M4 was momentarily taken aback by the emotion behind his statement. Having never been faced with the situation she was in now, forming a bond that went far beyond that of a Superior and their subordinate with someone and then being concerned for the well being of that someone. Almost like the concern she held for her sisters and squadmates in Anti-Rain, yet different on a completely different and intimate level.

"Commander..."

"That said I'm sorry about worrying you. It was an impulsive decision on my part. I _could_ have had a T-Doll from the reserves take your place for this operation. I _could_ have kept it on hold for a little bit longer. But I really needed to get something done that I could only have done close to the AO" He pulled back and away from M4 to reach into a duffle bag he'd brought with him.

"_Shit I hope these things didn't get ruined- _Ah! There they are!" He found what he'd been searching for and pulled it out for her to see.

It was a bouquet. The flowers were all of varying different kinds were in it. Dandelions, daisies, yellow tulips and magenta colored Zinnia flowers were arranged in a beautiful pattern and the sight of them brought forth memories for M4. Of endless fields of flowers and a warm feeling of safety and happiness. Of innocence and joy long since lost. She accepted the bouquet noiselessly. After a few seconds of silence while they stood there the Commander grew concerned, then he noticed her shoulders shaking and the quiet sobs coming from her.

"Oh shit- M4-" He was cut off when she suddenly stepped into him, nuzzling her forehead against his chest as the tears flowed down her cheeks. Again he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him while she cried.

"M4- I'm sorry I-"

"It's fine Commander..." He let her go as she stepped back, cradling the bouquet in her arms and giving him a smile that seemed to light up the world around him and wash it in a color palette that further brightened it.

"I love them! Their beautiful Commander!" He felt his heart beat and his entire body warm with joy at seeing that smile. Even with the mask on it was obvious to everyone looking to see he was smiling as well. They stayed like that for a while, standing there and smiling at each other. Reveling in the warmth and love. Of course, like all things in his life, the Commander just couldn't get a break.

"Yo Commander!" He froze, realizing who that voice belonged to. Like he were made of clockwork he slowly turned to see M16 walking up to them. That same acidic polite smile plastered on her face and now a very obvious tick mark to accompany it.

"_Oh fuck_"

"Remember what I said? About making my precious little sister cry?"

"Oh fuck"

"Yeah"

"This is going to hurt isn't it?"

"Yup. But! Since you did make her smile with this I suppose I can give you a 5- no. 10 second head start before I start chasing you. I won't even use my gun!" To emphasize her point she dropped her gun to the side. She turned back to him.

"Your 10 seconds start now"

The Commander turned to M4, who was looking happy still but also confused now, and gave her a quick hug.

"I love you. Forgot to say it when I gave this to you but just wanted to say that now..." He stared lovingly into her eyes, getting lost in them for a moment.

"5 Seconds"

"Oh shi- Gotta go now!" And with that he dropped the duffle bag and his jury rigged flamethrower and booked it as quickly as he could in the opposite direction from M16.

"4... 3... 2... 1. Alright! NOW YOU DIE!" With a maniacal laugh and a boom as the ground cracked beneath her feet M16 took off after the Commander. It took only a few seconds for M4 to follow after when she realized that her sister was likely to follow through with her supposed promise of violence towards her beloved. In her chase she let go of the bouquet. Thankfully G36 was still there to catch it and ensure that it didn't get ruined.

She sighed, rubbing her forehead with her free hand as she fixed the bouquet while watching the three person chase unfolding across the base. Frustrated she may be she couldn't stop the small smile on her face as she watched the chase from where she stood.

"My... such a colorful base I've been assigned to..."

**A/N: Wanted to write something cutesy like this for once and here it is. Also for those who don't know the language of flowers Dandelions means Faithfulness and Happiness. Daisies mean Innocence and Loyal Love. Yellow Tulips mean "Theres sunshine in your smile" and Magenta Zinnias mean Lasting Affection.**


	6. Chapter 6

Rage

Today the Commander was out on a rare day off spending some time with some of the girls under his command taking a well deserved break from the usual Hubbub of paperwork, combat, planning and strategizing they did on a daily basis in order to insure the continuing safety of the settlements that inhabited area S-09. It was in that one of the larger settlements in the area, one that was built on the remnants of an old russian city, that he walked. G36 had been taken off secretarial duty and in her place was Springfield and while she wasn't as strict as the maid T-Doll she still had that motherly air of concern about her that the Commander couldn't find himself able to say no to. So there he was, walking down the street and being accompanied by the base's Team Mom, when he came to a sudden stop as they turned a corner to investigate a commotion.

What he saw made his blood run cold and then burn with a fiery kind of hatred he'd thought he'd long lost the capacity for.

Outside of a small cafe there was one of the other T-Dolls brought along for this little romp through town. A Rifle T-Doll by the name of M2000. While she was a rather stoic and oftentimes quiet T-Doll the Commander taken a shine to her, as he had every other T-Doll, and not long after her initial recruitment she was treated as part of their massive, dysfunctional extended family. Now she was being grabbed painfully by the arm and being shouted at by a sneering group of youths who were obviously part of the Anti T-Doll sentiment around here. So far they'd been lucky not to encounter any of them. He supposed their luck could only last so long.

Now the Commander was prone to bouts of impulsiveness. Stupid actions that often lead to bodily harm on his part. But here he wanted nothing more to commit something that, should it still be considered relevant around this time, would be considered by the Geneva Convention as a warcrime. Several warcrimes in fact. Instead he opted to calmly walk up and ask what was wrong and why they were doing this. This apparently got the attention of their leader, the one holding M2000 by the arm and had a face likened to that of a cross between a pug and non-descript road kill plastered on a human head, and he promptly dragged M2000 along to reply.

"What's wrong!? This fucking robot is walking around like it owns the god damned place! Thats whats wrong!" The looks from the nearby patrons and passing strangers indicated that no she had not in fact been doing that. The Commander took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

"I see-" But before he could say anymore the ugly punk cut him off. Lifting up M2000's arm and shaking her around. She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"And we're just teaching this fucking tin can a lesson and showing it its place in society! Fucking robots think that they can walk around like this after everything they've done!?"

"You mean protecting the people in the settlements, fighting off hordes upon hordes of a killer AI's drones specifically ordered to hunt and kill humans and sacrificing life and limb for your sorry asses?" That caught him off guard, same with the rest of his posse.

"Hu-Whu-" Before he could say anything else the Commander was on him. One long stride forward and he had his grip on the arm the punk was using to hold M2000 captive. She quickly rushed behind Springfield while the punk let out a cry of pain from the force behind the Commander's grip and tried futilely to pry off his fingers. It didn't have any kind of effect beyond pissing him off even more.

"Now. Let me say my piece and before your friends get any ideas I did not get the job of being a Commander for Gryffin and Kryuger by doing some cushy desk job. I went out there. And I trained. And I **killed**. Even before I was recruited by Gryffin I was in a career that regularly had me killing things in droves. Human? Machine? It didn't matter. Back then it was kill or be killed and I could end you and your pathetic little posse of petulant man-children without any kind of effort and still go to sleep like a fucking baby tonight. Now listen here" He pulled the man up by his arm, lifting him off the ground to the sound of bones shifting and creaking in the man's arm.

"I lead these girls on a daily basis trying to keep the asses of little shit stains like you and the lives of the people that live in settlements like this across my area of responsibility and beyond alive. We fight, tooth and fucking nail, against a force with superior numbers and superior technology with a far smaller force of infantry units while making do with the limited resources available to us and we've come out on top each and every fucking time. We don't always come out unscathed though. These girls can make mistakes, they can **die** just like the rest of us squishy humans. It just so happens that it takes a helluva lot more punishment to do that, they can feel just like any other human. Sadness, happiness, fear, relief, anger. You might say that their just machines but can you really say that when they already look and act so human that its hard to tell the difference?" He gestured with his free hand behind him to Springfield and M2000. The latter looked scared still and was hiding behind the former who had a look of outrage on her face you would often see on mother's when their children were being hurt in front of them. He lifted the man up higher, close enough to the lenses of his gasmask that the man could see his reflection in them and even faintly see the green eyes behind them burning with a rage that could kill a man with nary a look.

"Now that I think I've made my point I'm going to say this now. If I come back here and I find even the slightest _rumor _that you and your posse have been up to no good again I won't just kill you" He took a second for the words to sink in. Then suddenly his tone shifted an octave lower, practically at a growl he continued.

"I will make you **suffer**. I will put you through the most creatively painful ways one can harm a human being. I will tear you apart piece, by screaming, piece and put you back together with the cutting edge technology of IOP purely so I can tear you apart again. And again. **And Again.** Keeping you alive throughout the entire process so that you can feel every single second of **pure agony **I'm going to put you through. I'm going to continue at it for so fucking long that whatever impotent God's you worship will come down from the fucking skies above and beg me on their hands and fucking knees to stop as a humanitarian action and to release your putrid, disgusting soul from this eternal torment that rivals even the fiery depths of the lake of fire. I will not eat, drink or sleep until **I. Have. Justice**" Throughout his entire tirade the people around them had been steadily taking steps backwards. The sheer vitriol and hatred dripping from his voice was enough to cause one of the more faint of hear goons to collapse in a cold sweat. It was at this point that the Commander continued staring at the punk in his hands, lenses fully reflecting light and hiding his eyes from view. He got closer to the punk's face, practically pressing his mask against it.

"**Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?**" Pitifully, the man nodded as much as he could, partially because of fear and partially because his fight or flight instinct had slammed the pedal to the metal and was screaming at him to get as far away as possible from the mentally unstable masked man before him who was lifting him a good foot off the ground.

"**Good**" With that he dropped him, releasing his arm and dropping him on his ass where he pathetically tried to crawl away. It was only as the red was fading from his vision that he noticed several things.

One, the punk was leaving a trail of fluid he could only assume the nature of as he crawled away. Two, he had apparently put too much strength in his grip and had not only broken the punk's arm but almost completely crushed the section he was holding. The rest of his arm flapped uselessly behind him as he crawled. Three, the local law enforcement had arrived. On the plus side they looked absolutely terrified of him and in the end simply told him not to do something like that again and let him off with a warning. Because one does not survive long when threatening a man who had lifted someone a foot off the ground and crushed their arm as flat as a pancake while driven by pure, instinctual rage.

For their part, the Commander returned to base with the rest of his T-Dolls in tow after making a quick stop at an ice cream parlor to buy something for M2000 and the rest of the girls. Springfield scolded him for making such a scene but couldn't keep the smile off her face as she watched M2000 sleeping on the Commander's lap on the helicopter ride home.

All in all. It was a normal day of R&R.

**A/N: Rage is a helluva thing lemme tell you that folks.**


	7. Chapter 7

Couple

"M4 what is that?"

M4 turned to face the Commander hugging something to her chest. On closer inspection it looked like a smaller doll-like Sopmod II.

"Oh. This? It's Sop Jr! Sop made her for me using scrapped SF parts after a mission as a gift!" She smiled while she explained.

"Huh. I see- wait. SF parts? Isn't that a little... dangerous?" M4 shook her head and held up Sop Jr. in front of her.

"Of course not. Sop made sure she was perfectly safe. See?" She gave the little doll a couple of squeezes before suddenly it shook and started laughing maniacally. To most people they would find this at least mildly disturbing. The Commander, however, found this absolutely adorable.

"Awww! She's so cute!" M4 let her go as the Commander took hold of the little doll himself. She didn't seem to mind the change of hands and even seemed to enjoy it, if the fact that she was nibbling on the Commander's thumb was any indication.

"Look at her! I think she likes me!"

"Doesn't that hurt?"

"Ah I've had worse things bite me in the past. This just kind of tickles" He rubbed her chin like a cat with his free hand and was pleasantly surprised to find that she was purring. This endeared her even more to the two. The little doll yawned and started nuzzling her cheek against the Commander's gloved hand.

"I think she's sleepy. Let me go take her back to the Dorm so she can sleep"

"Oh- of course. Here"

It took some careful maneuvering but the Commander succeeded in transferring Sop Jr back to M4's hands. She cradled the sleeping doll like a baby in her arms.

"She's so cute isn't she?"

"Yeah..."

"You two do realize you look like a married couple cooing over her like that you know?"

The two froze, a fierce blush showed on M4's face while underneath his mask the Commander felt his face heat up. They both quietly turned to see Kalina leaning on the wall down the corridor. She had a cheeky smile on her face.

"M-Miss Kalina! This-"

"Kalina that's-"

The two of them stopped when they heard Sop Jr stirring in her sleep, turning over and hugging M4's arm in her slumber. Kalina walked up to them with a hand to her mouth to try and cover up her giggling. She wasn't succeeding.

"Oh relax you two. Your both technically married now with those rings remember? Nothing wrong with that right?" She stopped beside them as she peeked at Sop Jr and let out a quiet "Awww" of her own as the little doll slept peacefully. M4 kept her hold steady but stuttered out a response.

"W-well... Thats true but-"

"Buuut?"

"W-we... we haven't..."

"Haven't what?"

M4 mumbled out her response too quietly for either of them to hear. Kalina continued prodding, getting closer with that cheeky smile of hers growing even larger somehow.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you"

"W-we haven't..." She took a deep breath and turned away, her entire face bright red.

"_Done... 'it'... yet..._"

There was a moment of silence between them only interrupted by Sop Jr's quiet snores as what M4 said was processed by the other two. The responses were as follows.

The Commander's blush practically penetrated through his mask and made it light up in a flaming blush of its own. He sputtered, mumbled and sounded unintelligible as he was slightly taken aback. Kalina was smiling even more now, practically radiating an air of mischief. She leaned forward.

"Oh? And what exactly do you mean by... 'it'?" M4's response was more panicked and flustered stuttering while the Commander did much the same, trying and failing to find the words to scold Kalina for being improper. For her part Kalina just laughed quietly and stepped back.

"I'm kidding I'm kidding! I know what you mean and I won't pry any further. I have to go now anyway. Those supplies won't get themselves you know?" She turned and began walking down the hallway, a skip in her step. Suddenly she stopped and looked at them over her shoulder.

"Although... I did hear rumors about T-Dolls having artificial wombs capable of bearing children so..." She fished something out of a pocket and threw it back at them. The Commander caught it for M4 as she had her hands full. He looked at Kalina curiously before looking at what she'd thrown and nearly felt his eyes pop out of their sockets and through his gasmask. It was a condom. Straight up a condom. M4 saw it too and her face erupted into another blush. The Commander turned back to Kalina, who was waving at them with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Remember to use protection you two~" She called out teasingly before turning and skipping down the hall and around the corner, her giggling slowly fading away as she left.

Again, there was silence between the two. Now it was of a more awkward variety as they stood there and fidgeted in place.

"A-Ah! Thats right! I need to go back to the dorm and make sure Jr gets some sleep!"

"Y-yeah thats right! You go do that I have... paperwork to do and... stuff..."

They stayed standing there awkwardly for a few more moments before waving goodbye and as quickly as possible while still walking left in opposite directions, faces still red from the encounter with Kalina.

Some hours later during a meeting Helian had asked the Commander why a condom fell out of his pocket. M4 was also present during said meeting and the two blushed at the memory of what happened earlier. Unfortunately M16 was also at that meeting and as such was understandably pissed off as she misunderstood the implications. It took several hours before the Commander came down from the water tower that M16 chased him to in the middle of the meeting.

Melee

The Commander observed the video feed from the command room. Looking over past combat scenarios. Across all of them he noticed that a good number of his T-Dolls had a tendency to engage the enemy in melee. The worst perpetrators of such were CZ75, Ingram, Type-100, Thompson and practically every shotgun T-Doll under his command. It was while watching a particular video that he turned around to address the T-Dolls he'd called to scold them over their most recent battle.

"I think you all know why your here" They remained silent, nervously kicking at the floor or looking away and trying to look innocent. One of them, an MG T-Doll by the name of Negev, spoke up.

"Commander. I believe that my actions in the last battle were perfectly justifiable"

"Well why don't you explain to me your justifications for using your fellow squadmate against the enemy like a weapon?"

"It was the only option at the time"

"Oh really?" He turned around an rewound the video to a certain point and played it. In it Negev had dropped her gun and picked up a fellow T-Doll, Super-Short, and began swinging her around like a screaming human sized flail against the approaching Sangvis forces. While it was undeniably effective there were still the ethical concerns involved with such an action.

"You used Super-Shorty like a bludgeon and continued to use her like one for the rest of the mission, completely forgoing your assigned weapon" She slouched slightly, poking her fingers together in a nervous manner.

"She'll get better... right?"

"It's not a question of if she'll get better Negev the question is if its ethical to use your teammates as melee weapons"

"... Is it?"

"OF COURSE NOT!"

She winced, as did the rest of the squad. The Commander sighed and took a deep breath and took a seat behind the command table.

"Look. I won't say this again and I hope I don't have to. Do not. Use your teammates. As melee weapons. While the effectiveness of it in that situation was undeniable its not at all something I would encourage or advise. Now go and take this" He brought out something from under the desk, it was a small box with a cheesecake inside.

"And head to the repair bay. Give it to Shorty as an apology and swear that you'll never do something like this again. Okay?" Negev huffed and crossed her arms, looking away. Then she sighed and picked up the box.

"I will Commander. My apologies"

"Good" Then he stood up and reached over the table to pat her on the head. She blushed but didn't move to push his hand away so he took that as a sign to continue.

"I swear I have to say this to all of you but you don't have to push yourselves or your teammates so hard to prove something to me. All I ask is that you do what you can, whenever you can, and come back home safe. Am I understood?" He stopped patting her as she stepped backwards to stand with the rest of her squad.

"Yes Commander" They chorused back at him.

"Good. Now go along. And remember to give that to her at the medical bay okay?" Negev nodded once, still blushing, and turned away to walk out with the rest of her squad. He waited until they were out of earshot to click the com piece attached to his mask.

"Kalina. How many tubs of ice cream do we have left? Send 3 of them over to Negev squad's dorm. Be discrete but quick about it though. Oh, and take one for yourself as well. Thank you Kalina"


	8. Chapter 8

Sleeping Habits

"Commander, have you seen G11 anywhere?" HK416 asked as she opened the door to The Commander's office. He looked up from the paperwork on the table to raise an eyebrow with a curious hum.

"Isn't she usually sleeping at 404's dorm?" She shook her head and walked inside, eyes flicking around every corner and piece of furniture in the office.

"Unfortunately no, I thought you would know seeing as how she's recently taken to sleeping in your office as of late" She walked up to a closet and with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop flung it open, revealing various office supplies, spare clothes and miscellaneous things the Commander stored in there. She quietly closed it and as if that didn't happen turned to speak to the Commander in a casual tone. "Well? Have you seen her?" The Commander shook his head, returning to his paperwork.

"Nope, haven't seen her around anywhere 416. Maybe try asking Ribeyrolles or the others in 404 if they've seen her?" 416 nodded, walking around the office and coming to a stop by a potted plant sitting next to a window. Suddenly she lifted it up over her head and then scanned the window and the bushes outside for any sign of the narcoleptic T-Doll. Finding nothing she placed the potted plant back and wiped her hands fished out a handkerchief from one of her pockets to wipe her hands on. She walked over to the Commander's desk, leaning over and giving the Commander a suspicious glare.

"Are you absolutely sure of that? Commander?" He looked back up at her, more glad than ever over the fact that his mask could hide his face because he was sweating bullets now.

"Absolutely 416" The stare off continued for a few more moments before 416 huffed, turned, and walked towards the door.

"Very well then, I will go ask the others if they've seen G11. Honestly, she's superior german engineering. She should act like it when she's supposed to" She stopped at the door, giving the room one last cursory scan before sighing. "I apologize for the sudden intrusion Commander"

"It's fine 416. Just be a little less… obvious… next time?" She nodded half-heartedly and closed the door behind her as she left. He waited, listening for her footsteps to fade out before sighing and pushing his chair back slightly to look underneath his desk.

"Fuwaaaaah… thanks Commander, you really saved me back there" G11 said groggily as she rubbed the crust out of her eyes with one hand. She'd been sleeping under his desk for the past few hours now. She'd started this habit of sleeping in the Commander's office a few days ago after successfully escaping 416's nearly predatory search for her several times. Though she was confident that she'd continue to be able to escape 416's notice by doing this the Commander knew that nothing lasted forever, and that 416 was bound to find her at some point. He voiced such thoughts to her with a sigh.

"You know that she's going to find you here eventually right? There aren't any hiding spots left in the office" She waved a hand dismissively, curling up and laying back down on the pillow with a content sigh.

"I'm confident that you can save me from her just a little longer Commander, now let me sleeeeeep…" Her words slurred towards the end as she slowly fell back into her slumber. Clutching a pillow and snoring softly. The Commander sighed, staring up at the ceiling as if asking the heavens once again why he'd been assigned such a colorful and varied company of T-Dolls. Then he looked back down and observed G11 cutely mumbling for UMP-9 to stop teasing her and realized that no matter the answer he'd receive for his question he knew that it was still worth it.

Then suddenly he heard something smack against the window behind him. He turned around, then practically jumped out of his seat to see 416 pressing her face up against the glass. Though it was muffled by the glass he could clearly hear her say "I. FOUND. YOU"

"OH FUCK" He shoved his chair in the direction of the window, briefly obscuring 416's view, as he quickly grabbed G11 and her pillow from underneath his desk. She was half-awake and tucked under his arm when he dashed out of his office.

"Commander? What's happening?" Vaguely she could hear the glass window in his office breaking and the door being thrown off its hinges and slammed into the wall opposite as 416 emerged, shadowed over and eyes blazing like a demon straight from hell, to G11 at least. Within seconds her expression changed from confused and sleepy to complete and utter terror. She turned to the Commander who was continuing to run at near inhuman speeds, somehow keeping ahead of the German T-Doll giving chase.

"RUNNING, RUNNING IS WHAT IS HAPPENING"

"**COMMANDER! GET BACK HERE AND ACCEPT PUNISHMENT WITH G11!**"

Thus, once again, the T-Dolls and varying base personnel were witness to yet another chase between the Commander and one of his T-Dolls. M4 worried, M16 laughed and chugged some beer as she watched for lack of any Jack Daniels to drink, and all was normal for G&K's Area S-09 outpost.

* * *

Commanders

The Commander walked down the hallway with Springfield trailing a step behind him, feeling just a little bit nervous. He was meeting with the Commanders of the G&K outposts surrounding area S-09 for a monthly progress report. He wasn't the best at socializing or interacting with those he considered to be of higher status than him and he held the other commander's in quite high regard after all the assistance they'd given him during the parts of his training that required more strategy than just "Go here and shoot the targets dead". He sighed, wondering how his seniors had been doing since he'd last seen them the month before. They'd been looking haggard and tired after dealing with a sudden influx of SF attacks on their areas with the recent return of Anti-Rain and the information they carried. Likely an attempt to draw them out and possibly capture or kill them. He'd offered as much help as he could at the time but there was only so much he could do with the mess he had to deal with on his end on top of whatever missions Persica and Gryffin high command had for him due to his command status over Anti-Rain.

"Commander, when are you planning to go in?" He was shaken from his thoughts by Springfield's voice. He realized that he'd been standing at the door to the meeting room for who knows how long now. Springfield probably did, seeing as how she was giving him curious looks. Suddenly, as if sensing his thoughts she smiled in that usual motherly/sisterly manner of hers. "Are you nervous about seeing your fellow Commanders?" He kept his gaze on the door as he nodded slowly, anxiety eating away at him. She placed a hand on his shoulders, the action bringing his attention to her. Even with his gasmask on he couldn't hide his blatantly obvious body language from her with the way his shoulders were tensed and his hands were balled into fists and shaking. She squeezed his shoulder and that seemed to be enough to make him relax just slightly. "Relax Commander, if these people are as great as you make them out to be each time we asked about them then it will be fine" He looked back at the door and took a deep breath. He let it out as he grabbed the handle and looked at Springfield.

"Thanks Springfield, for getting me back on track here" She smiled and nodded, then stepped back behind him by a pace. Then finally he opened the door to the meeting room and they both stepped inside.

"Ah, there you are. We've been waiting for you" Gentiane said from where she sat, idly flipping through her papers while a G36 T-Doll, not the one assigned to him, sat beside her and seemed to be glaring at her for her poor sitting posture.

"Yes, we've been waiting quite awhile. What was keeping you?" Jun said from his own seat opposite Gentiane while adjusting his glasses. Beside him sat a Super Sass T-Doll who gave them a cheerful wave that Springfield returned with a wave of her own.

"Is there something wrong friend? You may wear that mask of yours but even we can tell you seem to be nervous about something" Feodor said from his own seat closer to the door, arms crossed and brows furrowed in concern. Beside the big Russian man, appearing regal and aloof yet carrying just the slightest bit of a worried look in her eyes as she looked at them, sat a DP-28 T-Doll. The Commander sighed and shook his head, smiling behind his mask as he made to sit down in the free seats opposite Feodor with Springfield sitting down next to him.

"It's fine, just feeling a little tired lately. But I'm glad to see you guys again that's for sure." The others shared smiles, knowing him long enough to know that he was smiling under his mask. They were quickly silenced by a cough from Helianthus, who stood at the head of the table wielding a pointer stick in one hand and a remote for the overhead projector in the other.

"If you are all done exchanging pleasantries I would like to get on with the meeting" We all nodded in affirmation and straightened our postures to listen. She clicked the remote and the lights dimmed as the projector came on. It displayed a picture on the screen in front of the table.

"Today we will be going over recent combat data that you've all gathered over the past few weeks"

* * *

Trash

"Alright… tell me again, what you were expecting to accomplish?"

In Gryffin and Krueger Commanders undergo a strict and almost punishing recruitment process.

"I- I didn't mean to do any harm I-"

Although for anyone not involved with frontline duties such as that or associated ones like logistics or maintenance, the standards are much, much lower.

"No harm you say? Well why don't you explain why one of our new recruits has refused to leave the confines of Echelon 1's dormitory after your encounter with her? Hmm?"

So it's not surprising that, despite measures taken to ensure loyalty and credibility of their employees, some unscrupulous individuals will slip through. Which brings us to where we are now, with the Commander staring down a portly man in a janitor's uniform sitting across from him in his office. The damning reason for this meeting sitting innocently on his desk. A remote with a dial and buttons on it, at first glance you wouldn't have realized the malicious things that this thing were used for. The janitor had no answer, he continued to squirm in his seat under the unfeeling gaze of The Commander's gasmask. Usually, most would consider the Commander to be a jovial and cheerful person, able to convey a smile despite his face constantly being covered by his mask. Now it only served to make him appear more unnerving, inhuman even, at least in the eyes of the janitor. After the silence stretched on for too long the Commander growled then leaned forward.

"Let me repeat what happened then. You were found in possession of a device that allowed you to rewrite the logic processes of a T-Doll. Something that, if it fell into the wrong hands or handled incorrectly, could lead to catastrophic results. Additionally, you were also caught in the middle of accosting one of our more recent additions to our ranks, a handgun T-Doll by the name of GSH-18, and more damningly so you were using that same device on her" He stared at the janitor, who was now sweating bullets where he sat, not moving an inch or betraying any form of motion from where he sat. He was met with silence. So he continued.

"More than that there's proof that you have done this with at least two other T-Dolls on base. Specifically a Handgun T-Doll and a Submachinegun T-Doll who for now shall go unnamed. You know what you did with them" He pressed further, disgust and anger evident in his voice. Further silence met him so he continued yet again.

"Do you know how much damage you've done? Not just financially or legally to Gryffin and Krueger in terms of the costs needed to undo the damage done but the damage you've done to the T-Dolls themselves?" This time he got a response. A mumble, too quiet for him to hear.

"Pardon me, I couldn't hear you. What did you say?"

"…ust bunch… obots…"

"I'm sorry. Repeat that for me. What did you say?"

"Their just a bunch of robots… Why should I care what damage they take!? Isn't that what their made to do!?" The portly man shouted, standing up from his chair. The commander remained silent, apparently he took that as a sign to continue.

"Their just a bunch of machines! We made them so we could do what we want with them! Doesn't that make sense!? Why should I be punished for that!?" The Commander held up a hand. He shut up and sat down, still seething.

"Let me repeat myself. You've done, possibly irreversible, damage to at least two combat units under our employ here. You've done what is effectively sabotage in our eyes and as such that requires punishment. That is why" He pulled out several papers from underneath his desk and set them down next to the gadget on the table.

"From today onwards you are fired form Gryffin and Krueger, effective immediately. Furthermore you are blacklisted from everywhere under the concerns of possible sexual harassment or assault you may commit in the future" The former janitor sat there dumbfounded. Unable to comprehend what he was seeing. He'd worked hard to try and get into G&K and get a chance to get close to T-Dolls. He thought his luck had taken a turn for the better when he came across the device he'd used in a black market. Finally he'd be able to live out his fantasies and get away with it! Unfortunately that was all for naught. And now he was fired, wouldn't be able to find any employment in the future, and would likely have to risk scavenging the wastes to survive. He clenched his fists, gritting his teeth in anger.

"That's not fair! I was just-"

"Fulfilling your sick fantasies, expecting to get away with it under the excuse that they were 'just T-Dolls'? Please, Mr. Rourke we are a professional PMC. The people around here rely on us to protect them. We have a reputation to uphold and people like you are the very kind of people that drag our name through the dirt. Now take your papers, grab your belongings and **leave**" The Commander finished his sentence with a tone that left no room for arguments. Rourke seethed, he steamed and practically turned red from rage. He slammed his fists down on the desk, sending the papers flying all over the office.

"WHO ARE YOU TO SAY THAT!? AREN'T YOU MARRIED TO A FEW OF THESE THINGS YOURSELF!? I BET YOU GET IT ON WITH THEM AAAALLL NIGHT TOO HUH!? BET'CHA YOU HAVE PLENTY OF FUN WITH THOSE SEX BOTS OF YOURS HUH!? YOU'RE A FUCKING HYPOCRITE YOU KNOW THAT!?" He shouted, spittle getting all over the Commander's mask and upper half of his uniform. He remained quiet all throughout the other's tirade. Calmly, he wiped off the spit on his mask. Then, like he hadn't been insulted to his face, he responded.

"For your information, I married them because I truly loved them. I didn't do it because I wanted to satisfy my lust or dirty fantasies. And thus far with how busy things have been and my blatant inexperience in intimate relationships there has been little to no time for 'skinship' of any kind as you may assume. Now then, please. Sit." Rourke huffed, still angry, but taking his seat anyway with a quiet shiver, unnerved by the calm response and the lack of expression due to the mask.

"Now then… I was willing to simply let you go because that was what my superiors told me to do. They were the ones that decided on the punishment after hearing of my own… extreme… methods… but with this I have to rethink things…" Rourke gulped, remembering some of the Commander's more eccentric moments, and realizing he may have just signed his own death warrant. Then he pulled something from underneath his desk. It was a revolver. He couldn't tell if it was loaded or not.

"Let's play a little game shall we? They call it Russian roulette. If I shoot this and the chamber is empty you win! And get to leave with your life and what little belongings you have that we haven't torn to shreds while investigating where you got this device of yours. If it fires and you get shot? Well- you die, and G&K wipes away any evidence that you existed. Are you ready?" He picked up the revolver, pulling back the hammer and leveling it at Rourke's head. He didn't even have a second to complain before the Commander pulled the trigger…

Nothing. He breathed a sigh of relief. Happy that he'd be able to leave…

At least until the Commander pulled the trigger again. This time it fired. Then he pulled the trigger again, and again, and again until it ran out. Rourke fell back on his seat and down to the floor, bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds on his chest. None of them had hit anything vital but he was in too much pain to do much else but try to scream. He couldn't. The Commander stood up from his chair and walked around his desk, breaking open the break-action revolver and letting the spent shells fall to the ground.

"I'm guessing your thinking 'That's unfair!' right now yes? Well did I ever say the rest of the rules? Or that I'd stop pulling the trigger after the first one?" Rourke answered with a pained groan. The Commander sighed, setting the revolver down on his desk and pulling open a drawer from a filing cabinet next to him. Curiously enough he pulled a massive burlap sack and a smaller sack after that. He set the larger one aside as he quickly pulled the smaller one over Rourke's head. Rourke was already panicking, but when he felt the Commander start to stuff him into the larger sack he felt his heart beating a mile a minute. He started to scream. But despite its appearance the sack over his head muffled them quite well.

"Hmm. Your about as heavy as your fat ass made it look. Oh well, just means it'll take longer for the incinerator to cremate you" He smiled under his mask as he felt the muffled screams reach another octave. He slung the sack over his shoulder and lightly kicked open the door, looking back at the bloodstains on the floor and the wall and sighing. "G36 is gonna kill me for the mess… but she'll understand" with that thought he nudged the door closed behind him, humming a merry tune as he made his way down to the incinerator where they got rid of their burnable trash. They wouldn't mind adding a little bit more to their load.

* * *

**Well this got dark quick. Wrote this on and off over the course of a few months cause of distractions and problems. It is currently 12:20 am as I type and upload this. Last part is a bit of a vent and needed to get some anger out. Hopefully the next update won't take months. Again. God damnit me why are you like this.**


	9. Chapter 9

Nicknames

It was a fairly normal day on the base. Regular patrols were finished, there was no maintenance to be done and there was little else to do so the Commander called for the day to be a rest day for everyone. Most T-Dolls busied themselves with their own hobbies or simply relaxed in the rare day of calm without any major or even minor conflicts arising. AR-Team in particular spent their day in their personal dormitory. In the pleasant quiet of their room, sitting upside down on the couch, Sop brought up a topic out of the blue.

"Have you guys noticed that the Commander has a penchant for giving people Nicknames?" This caught the attention of the other members of AR-Team. AR-15 who was doing maintenance on her rifle, M4 who was brushing Sop jr's hair,M16 who was taking small sips out of a bottle of whiskey she'd managed to smuggle in and RO, being the most studious out of the squad, looking over and redoing battle plans for future operations. M16 hummed, swishing her bottle in her hand.

"You've got a point. He's taken to calling me either Jackie or Dan a lot cause of my particular choice of beverage most of the time" M16 chuckled and took a swig of her bottle while RO shook her head disapprovingly where she sat. She turned back to her papers with a thoughtful look on her face as she too thought about the nicknames the Commander gave out.

"Well… he only ever calls me Ro. But he's explained that it's because calling me Rochelle or Romina would've been a mouthful…" she trailed off, a blush spreading across her cheeks, and turned her attention back to her papers. Sop laughed at Ro's flustered look and righted herself, sitting up on the couch and putting a finger to her chin while she thought.

"Hmm… Well sometimes Commander calls me Pup or Soppo! He says it's because he thinks I act like a puppy!" She sounded oddly proud about her statement, puffing out her chest and smiling smugly. AR-15 mumbled something under her breath.

"Yeah, a rather bloodthirsty and deranged puppy that is…" Her breath hitched when Sop turned to her with an unnatural glint in her eyes.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" She quickly replied, going back to cleaning her gun and ignoring Sop. She was rudely interrupted when she bounded over from the sofa over to where she sat on her bed and got in between her and her rifle.

"What about you 15? What does he call you?" She let out a short strangled gasp as she backpedaled away until she had her back against the headboard of her bed. She was already instinctively reaching for the emergency knife she hid inside of it before she calmed down to think about Sop's question. She huffed, crossing her arms as she looked away.

"… Sometimes… he calls me… Star or… Aria…" She trailed off, covering her mouth with a hand to try and hide the blush creeping up her face. Sop and M16 laughed at her reaction while Ro and M4 let out more reserved giggles. Feeling indignant and wanting to turn attention away from her she pointed at M4 accusingly. "W-what about you M4!? You're the one he gave an oath ring to, he must have plenty of cutesy nicknames he calls you with!"

"Fueh?" All attention was on M4 now, who had stopped brushing Jr's hair and was slowly turning red in the face. "A-ah… well…" She looked around, searching for a means of escape, but everyone was curious, even the normally reserved Ro. She looked down and found that even Jr. was staring up at her inquisitively. She sighed, putting down the brush and cupping her hands together. "W-well… he usually calls me Mai… but…" She looked hesitant, fidgeting shyly with the jacket sleeves she had tied around her waist.

"Well? What else? Come on don't keep us hanging like that!" M16 egged her on with a bottle raised, though inwardly she was planning a quick and discrete exit in case she heard something she didn't like to "take care" of problems.

"He… calls me things like… Honey… and Sweetheart… and Dear… and Ci-Cinnamon Bun!- and! and!" She couldn't take it, she blushed red as a tomato as she buried her face in her hands and squealed into them. They could even see literal steam coming from her head. 16 just took a sip of her drink again, frustrated that she couldn't find any legitimate "evidence" to use as an excuse to go beat up the Commander. "Haauuuuuuuu! It's so embarrassing!" Everyone giggled teasingly at the blushing girl. Even 16 couldn't help but chuckle at the flustered look on the younger T-Doll's face. She sighed, setting down her now empty bottle, and leaned back on the couch.

'Maybe I should give the Commander a bit more slack. He might be a bit screwy sometimes but he's done nothing but care for us since we got here. M4 especially' She smiled as she saw M4 jump back in her bed with Jr in her arms when Sop jumped on and started teasing her with her nicknames. 'Yeah. This is a lot better than before. At least now we have a Commander that actually sees us as more than just tools. Although...' She focused on the ring on M4's hand and her smile hardened slightly. 'I'm still kicking his ass to the curb if he does anything to hurt her. Nothing's gonna change about that' she finished her thought with a clenched fist and a nod to herself, determined to ensure the happiness of her "Little Sister".

Elsewhere on the base, the Commander felt shivers down his spine. As though someone had stomped on his grave. He spent the rest of the day looking over his shoulder on the lookout for eyepatch wearing drunkards.

* * *

First Words

Today was the day. The one she'd waited on for so long. Ever since she'd been brought in, fearful of whether she'd be accepted despite being broken, incomplete, and being surprised when instead of being rejected like so many other times before she was received quite literally with open arms. As she walked down the hall towards the repair bay, where she'd finally be given a part of her that she should've had from the start, she reminisced about the time she'd spent here, of how the others had welcomed her with as much excitement and joy as the Commander did, of learning what a family was, of how it felt to be in one.

Never in her admittedly short life did she expect that she'd get to experience these things. And yet all this was made possible by that dopy mask wearing Commander that she'd come to think of as someone dear to her. She smiled as the doors to the repair bay slid open and she walked in. Kalina was there, preparing the machinery and the materials needed to make things happen.

"Ah! Chi-chan! You're here a bit earlier than expected. Sit down over here, it'll only be a few more minutes before we can start" She greeted, using the cutesy little nickname that P7 had come up with for her a while back. She smiled and walked over to hop up on the table next to Kalina to sit on it. Kalina couldn't hold back the urge to give her a pat on the head before going back to her work.

M200 swung her legs around as she waited, looking around the room while Kalina worked. She hummed mutely, a noiseless tune only she could hear, as she thought. 'Chi-chan... the name the Commander gave me when I arrived here...'

_Several Months Ago..._

_"Well Commander here she is, M200. I will have to warn you though. Persica told me that she may have some... defective parts" Kalina said, stepping aside for the Commander to see the petite T-Doll beside her. The silverette shuffled nervously where she stood, averting her eyes and looking everywhere but the masked man before her._

_"Huh. What do you mean by 'defective'?" M200 wanted to shrink in on herself and disappear. She'd heard this so many times now she could already tell how this was going to end._

_'Oh no... here we go again. Another rejection...' _

_"Apparently according to Persica her voice module is broken, so she's unable to speak. So it might affect communicating with other T-Dolls, if only slightly" Kalina flipped through her clipboard, looking over what Persica had detailed about this particular M200 T-Doll_

_"Hmm. I see... and is there any particular reason why Dr. Persica decided to have her sent to us specifically?" _

_'Eh? Dr. Persica... asked for me to be brought here?'_

_Kalina glanced at the demure T-Doll and leaned in close to the Commander, bringing up her clipboard to hide her mouth she whispered. M200 could barely make out what she was saying._

_"Well... apparently because every other commander who got her didn't want a 'broken' T-Doll" The Commander looked aghast, turning to look at Kalina, who nodded gravely, then turned back to M200._

_'Is he... is he disappointed with me too? Is he going to throw me away as well?'_

_Then, surprising her with both his actions and his speed, the Commander stepped forward and picked her up in a hug. She was lifted clear off the ground, her legs dangling as the Commander wrapped her in his arms tightly, but not enough to be uncomfortable for her. _

_"Who would do something as cruel as that!? Christ I thought Helian made everyone go through the same test that my batch did. If it were any of my senpai's they wouldn't have even thought of doing something like that!" While he ranted he adjusted his hold on her. To others he looked like an incensed parent comforting their child with M200 sitting on his arm while he gently patted her head with the other. "Honestly! Kalina I want you to get a record of exactly who those f- those ba- those people are so we can at fu- so we can be more careful about them in the future!" Kaline giggled, finding it hilarious that the Commander was censoring himself around the poor girl, who looked confused more than anything at that moment. He turned to her and even through the mask she could tell he was smiling. "It's alright, you don't have to worry about being rejected or thrown away anymore. Here you'll have a home. A home and a family and you'll never have to feel alone or unwanted ever again" _

_She didn't know what she felt at that moment. The feeling of something welling up from her throat, of something that had been held down for so long bursting like a bubble. But the next thing she knew her eyes were leaking fluids and she was pressing her face against the Commander's shoulder, weeping silently. He didn't shy away or try to push her away. Instead he hugged her closer, drawing circles on her back comfortingly. _

_"Shhh it's okay. You can let it all out if you want to..." He gently rocked her back and forth, humming a tune as he comforted her. She didn't know how long she cried. But the next thing she remembered was being tucked into a bed in a room with several other T-Dolls sleeping, the Commander sitting next to her. He spoke quietly so as not to wake up the others._

_"Hey, your weapon. It's the Cheytac M200 Intervention yeah? How about we shorten that a bit so it's less of a mouthful?" He looked thoughtful, looking down in contemplation as he rubbed his chin. Then he snapped his fingers quietly, like a lightbulb had appeared over his head. "How about Chi-chan? How does that sound to you?"_

_'Chi...chan...' She mulled it over, her tired digi-mind using what it could to process the information. She didn't find anything wrong with it and nodded, smiling for the first time in... ever. The Commander nodded, satisfied._

_"Chi-chan it is then. Well, tomorrows a big day! You'll be getting a proper welcome from everyone. So rest up so you can enjoy it to the fullest!" She nodded, already feeling her body go into sleep mode. The Commander reached out a hand to pat her on the head. It made her feel... warm... and safe..._

_"Good night Chi-chan..."_

_The Present..._

"-hi-Chan? Chi-chan are you awake? We're ready to start now!" She was snapped from her reverie when Kalina waved a hand in front of her, giving her a smile and stepping back. "Miss Persica is here and the equipment is all fixed up. We can get started as soon as your ready! Just lay down and close your eyes and we'll do the rest" Persica moved into view, setting aside her coffee cup after taking a short sip of it. She gave the petite T-Doll a small reassuring grin and she couldn't help but smile back. She swung her legs up and onto the table and lay down, allowing herself to slowly slip into sleep mode. "And don't worry! By the time you wake up the Commander will be here so he can hear your first words too!" She smiled as her consciousness slipped away, the thought bringing her no small measure of joy and comfort.

_A few hours later..._

The Commander ran as fast as he could down the halls of the base, almost slipping and falling over himself a few times. Keeping pace with him was M4, running with the same urgency to her step but keeping pace with the Commander.

"Shit shit shit! I hope we aren't too late!" He skidded at a corner and nearly slammed into the wall if M4 hadn't grabbed him and lightly shoved him in the right direction. They'd just finished dealing with a sudden bout of Sangvis activity occurring around the border of S-09 in a joint operation with Gentiane. M4 herself had just jumped off the helicopter and onto the helipad where the Commander waited for her and the moment she landed they'd both taken off for the repair bay. As they reached the doors to the place M4 slid to a stop. This time she was too slow to react and winced as the Commander ended up slamming face first into the door, his hand smacking into the release control at the same time. The door slid open and the Commander fell forward, faceplanting on the floor with a loud thud that drew the attention of the others in the room.

He picked himself up and shook off what he felt was a mild concussion and stood up, walking with M4 at a slower pace down to where Persica and Kalina stood around the table M200 had laid down on. Said T-Doll was in the process of waking up, shaking her head and sitting up with some help from Kalina. M200 rubbed her eyes, yawning and stretching her other arm above her. She opened her eyes, looking at everyone gathered around her. Kalina was the first to speak.

"So what are your first words going to be Chi-chan! Anything on your mind?"

'Oh I know exactly what I want to say...' M200 turned to the Commander and M4, the biggest smile on her face, and said-

"Papa... Mama... Thank you!"

There was silence. One that didn't stretch on for too long before the Commander began sobbing. Tears leaking through the lenses of his mask. M4 was in a similar state, holding a hand up to her mouth and looking away, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. M200 almost began to panic before the Commander spoke.

"Papa... she called me Papa! And she called you Mama!" In one fell swoop he dragged M4 and M200 into a group hug, crying tears of joy as he hugged them close. "Chi-chan I'm so proud of you! I'm so happy that you think of me like a father that I- I-" whatever he wanted to say next was unintelligible, cut off by his own bawling as he hugged them even closer. M4 laughed, returning the hug and M200 did the same, laughing for the first time in her life and crying alongside them, her family. Off to the side Kalina and Persica smiled at the display.

"You know, I had my doubts about sending her here, all those months ago" Kalina turned to Persica, who once again had a coffee cup in her hand (a different one from the one she had earlier somehow) and tilted her head in confusion.

"Really? Why's that?"

"Because I was more... cynical I suppose. I didn't believe that the Commander was as compassionate and as accepting as our reports described him to be... I thought it was all just an act to get a better paycheck" She watched the small misfit family in front of her break apart from their hug and talk. M200 doing most of it while the other two listened to her intently. A sparkle of childish innocence in her eyes as she animatedly gestured and spoke at a mile a minute.

"And now?" Kalina inquired. Persica hid her smile behind her cup as she took another sip.

"Now? I just feel a little silly for worrying about it to begin with... Theres no way this goofy idiot would do anything to harm the girls... intentionally at least" Kalina smiled again, content with that answer. She nodded with a hum and started walking towards the three before her.

"Oi! Don't celebrate without me! Or the rest of the base for that matter! We didn't stockpile on rations and sweets for nothing now did we?"

While they did that Persica began to make her way out unnoticed, leaving them to start plans for a celebration party. A well deserved one considering their stellar performance this last few weeks. As the door slid closed behind her she sighed, looking at the ceiling as she walked.

'I hope you'll continue to treat these girls well in the future. Commander...'

* * *

**Well this didn't take a month to upda- wait it did take at least a month to update. FUG. Oh well, at least it's here now. I hope y'all enjoyed reading this chapter cause I wanted to make more sweet cutesy wholesomeness with precious potato daughter cause she finally got a voice!**

**AND NOW. An Omake/Outtake. That probably definitely shouldn't exist.**

First Words: Outtake

"So what are your first words going to be Chi-chan! Anything on your mind?"

'Oh I know exactly what I want to say...' M200 turned to the Commander and M4, opening her mouth and taking a deep breath.

"**NI-**"

**[The following was censored due to content deemed inappropriate for public viewing. We hope you understand and we apologize for the inconvenience]**


	10. Chapter 10

Weight

It wasn't uncommon for the Commander to give gifts to the T-Dolls under his care. Though sometimes he had a tendency to go a bit overboard on the gift-giving.

"Commander this is... very kind of you but I personally will have to decline your gift. The rest of my squad can eat it without me"

Such as now, as Negev had to decline a full sized strawberry cheesecake he'd gone out and bought for her and the rest of her squad.

"Eh? Why's that? I thought you loved these, especially the strawberries on them?" Negev twitched, clamping down on her urges and turning away with her arms crossed and her nose turned up.

"W-well... that is true but... I have my reasons for not wanting to accept your gift today"

Here the gears within the Commander's mind began to churn. All the time spent with women in his life, which didn't amount to much before he ended up here now that he thought about it, and the knowledge he'd acquired over that time on womanly issues, which also technically wasn't a lot, finally paying off. Like a light bulb had appeared over his head he snapped his finger in realization.

"Oh! Is it because your afraid of getting fa-"

Unfortunately, his limited knowledge of womanly issues did not include the Golden Rule of never questioning a woman's weight. Of which he learned as he was punched with enough force to be sent through a wall and embedded into the break room wall where Kalina was having tea with Type-100.

Indignant, Negev picked up the cakebox and stomped into her squad's dormitory, muttering about "Stupid, dense, insensitive Commander's".

Despite her earlier protests, she ended up eating half the cake anyway, much to her own dismay and her squad's entertainment. And the Commander had to be removed from the wall by M2-Browning.

* * *

Drawing

"Commander?" A little voice called out to him from the floor. The Commander jumped in his seat, startled, before remembering who the voice belonged to and looking down. On the floor, sitting on top of her pet Dinergate "Dinner" was Sop II Jr.

"Oh hey there Jr, what're you doing here?" He picked her up and placed her on his desk, pushing aside some of his paperwork and allowing Dinner to jump on his table as well. Jr reached over to Dinner, opening a compartment in his side that neither he nor the Commander knew about before then, an pulled out a roll of paper. She unfurled it and turned it around to show its contents to him.

It was a crudely made drawing made with crayons and marker pens of, what he assumed to be, M4 and himself with Jr in between them in a field of flowers with Dinner happily rolling in a pile of leaves. It was something at the level a child would make. But nonetheless the meaning and intent behind it was something that nearly moved the Commander to tears.

"Is this supposed to be us?" Jr responded with an energetic nod. She pointed to the red bodied stick figure with a hat and a strange face.

"Papa!" She pointed to the other stick figure with the brown hair and a green streak through it. "Mama!" she pointed to the box with a red eye and legs rolling in a pile of green... things. "Dinner!" Then she turned around, arms spread out, and with a smile on her face. "Family!" Dinner barked in agreement, wagging his little mechanical tail piece in joy. The Commander sniffed, wiping a tear away (somehow) through his mask and picking up Jr to hug her, patting her head happily.

"This is... its adorable Jr! Have you showed it to M4 yet?" Her response was a shake of the head. Mind set he got out of his seat and began walking to the door. "Let's go show her then! Today's another slow day so they aren't on patrol or a mission. I think they should be in the cafeteria right now!" He practically kicked his door open as he walked out, Dinner following closely at his heels. "My Paperwork can wait a few hours. We need to show them what you made here!"

Later the Commander was scolded by G36 and Kalina for ignoring his paperwork to go to the Cafeteria and brag about "His Daughter's masterpiece" to M4, the rest of AR-Team and everyone that would listen. He did however have a copy of Jr's drawing framed on his desk. The original was proudly placed on the door of AR-Team's refrigerator.

* * *

Meeting

Today was an odd day. The Commander had been called away, alongside his senior Commanders, to accompany Mr. Kryuger himself for some sort of conference with the Russian military's own higher ups. Something about possible cooperation in future operations in the places near their Area's of Responsibility. To him, when he was standing at attention in that room, the officers on the Russian side rubbed him wrong. Like very second he spent there they were staring daggers at him and his fellow Commanders. Now that the meeting was over they still had some time before they left so he took the time to find somewhere to calm his nerves and think with a drink. So here he was, staring out an open window at the bustling city below, an open soda can in his hand.

"So... your that Gryffin Commander with the mask huh?" The Commander turned to his left, seeing a tall man with white hair wearing a military uniform walking up to him.

"Well... I don't remember many other Commander's in my batch who wear gasmasks all the time. So I suppose yes, I am that Gryffin Commander with the mask. And you are?" The man came to a stop next to him and looked him up and down, searching for something. He didn't seem to find it and shrugged, turning to the window as well.

"Captain Yegor Arkatiyevich Beretev. KCCO... I've heard of you..." He gave the Commander a sideways glance before looking back out the window. "How... closely... you associate yourself with those T-Dolls under your command... as well as how protective you can be of them" He gave him a flat stare this time and the Commander inwardly thought back to that time that he broke that one asshole's arm when he tried to hurt M200. He shrugged, taking a sip of his drink and not noticing the surprised look on Yegor's face as he did so.

"Yes, I'm protective of them. What of it?" He was already getting a bad feeling from Yegor, a premonition of some sort that he couldn't understand. Yegor shook his head, his face set into a blank, serious stare.

"You do know that they are not human yes?" He crossed his arms, a little annoyed that despite the mask on the Commander's face he could tell that he was being given an annoyed look. "Don't try to fool yourself into thinking that they are. They are but tools, made to be used and disposed of in order to insure the survival of humanity after the devastation brought by the 3rd world war" He finished with a glare that seemed to be an attempt to intimidate him. The Commander just shook his head, taking another sip of his drink.

"Do you know how many times I've heard that spiel now? Granted they were from less intimidating and powerful men than you, but that doesn't make it any less annoying to hear" He adjusted his hat and turned to the slightly taller man with a resolute look on his face behind the mask. "They may not be human, true, but after seeing them in action. Living with them, bonding with them. Hearing them laugh and cry, watching them as they go by their daily lives. They act so close to being human that don't you think its inhumane _not_ to think of them as such?" Yegor's face remained stoic, but he made no move to interrupt him, so he continued. "And even then, its true that fundamentally they aren't Human. Their made of steel and wiring instead of flesh and nerves. But they are People, and their _my_ People. Yegor. To treat them as anything but my equals is something that doesn't sit right with me or my morals" He remained stoic, expression unchanging. The Commander heaved a sigh and swished his drink in his hand, staring into the liquid inside before looking back up at Yegor. "I can tell that no matter what I say you won't change your stance on T-Dolls. So let's simply agree to disagree and hopefully we never meet again yes?" Yegor gave him a stiff nod and he nodded back, downing what was left of his drink. The Commander pulled out his phone when he felt it buzzing, seeing that it was Gentiane texting him to tell him that it was time to leave. He tossed his now empty can into a nearby trashbin as Yegor unfolded his arms.

"I see that it is about time for you to leave. Good luck to you then, Commander of Gryffin" Yegor turned around and began to walk away, only to be stopped as the Commander called out to him.

"Wait, one last thing before I leave... Your a family man too, aren't you?" He motioned to Yegor's hand, which had a ring as well. He stiffened, almost feeling threatened until the Commander took off one of his gloves, revealing that he had a ring on one of his fingers too. "Mine may not be the same as yours but..." He traced the edges of the ring on his finger and Yegor paused, he had done something similar on multiple occasions. "You can understand how it feels then, to have something like this worth fighting for. Something you'd give your life for to see it remain safe..." He pulled his glove back on, standing up straight. "So I hope that at the least you understand that if it comes down to it, if you ever do anything to actively harm the girls under my care I can and **will** retaliate. And there will be nothing stopping me from doing so" His tone got lower towards the end, the lights seeming to darken around them. Yegor could feel a cold sweat break out but kept his expression straight. "Not men, not monsters. No weapons, no armor. Not even your entire army crashing down on me will stop me. I will find you. And I will put a bullet in the back of your head as you crawl away with your guts hanging out of your stomach once I eviscerate you" The lights flickered, some even going out, and Yegor could almost feel the temperature drop a few degrees before everything returned to normal. The lights worked fine, the temperature went back to normal and the crippling pressure on him was gone. Although he could still faintly feel like a metaphorical bullet hole was on the back of his head.

The Commander turned to his phone again, seeing that Gentiane had sent several angry texts asking where he was. He sighed, looking at Yegor one last time.

"I hope that I got my message across clearly Captain." Yegor nodded stiffly, unconsciously holding in a breath. The Commander, satisfied with that, nodded back and turned around. The only sound in the hallway as Yegor stood there was the sound of the Commander's boots clicking as he walked away and the low electric hum of the lights above. He could barely hear them though, over the hammering of his heart in his chest. He'd only felt such fear in his heart in his days as a fresh recruit, bullets and artillery fire whizzing overhead as his CO barked orders at him and his comrades. He shook his head, staring in the direction the Commander had left in.

'That one... he's definitely one to watch out for...'

* * *

**Yegor can get fucked with a 12.7x108mm round fired from an anti-materiel rifle to the back of the skull. Fuck that guy. **


	11. Chapter 11

Precious

"Hey hey! 45! I've been wondering about something"

"Hmm? What is it Nine?"

Ump-45 turned to her sister sitting across from her in the helicopter. They were on their way to a mission site, a normal patrol mission on a normal workday.

"Well, I noticed a while back that you've had that oath ring on you, but 416 says that the data from our missions since then are off despite that" In response, 45 tilted her head, raising up her left hand and looking at the simple looking ring on her ring finger. She smiled, giggling at it and turning back to 9.

"Off? How so? Am I not performing like a T-Doll with an O.A.T.H. ring system on her should be performing?" Ump-9 actually had to pause, quickly bringing up and sending files over to 45 via the neural network.

"Actually, your doing even better than that. Instead of bringing a 10% increase in performace like it should, statistically it shows a 15-20% increase in performance" 9 laughed as 45 scrolled through the files that 416 had apparently compiled. "You should've seen her sis, she was driven up the wall trying to figure out how this was possible!" 45 had to laugh too, imagining in her head the image of 416 restlessly pacing the room while shifting through a stack of papers, getting increasingly frustrated as she fails to find an answer. She was shaken from her thoughts when her sister stopped laughing and leaned in, eyes focused on her.

"So sis, whats your secret? How're you doing so much better than expected?" By this point, the other T-Dolls in the cabin with them were leaning in as well, curious about her answer. A smile crossed 45's face, a genuine one as opposed to her usual sly and mischievous smiles, looking down at the ring fondly as she recalled how she'd gotten it.

[Flashback, a few months after 404's first arrival to the base]

UMP-45 had been invited by the Commander to go on a walk with him. A fairly common thing to happen most days, he'd invite a T-Doll or two on a walk around the base to just take in the bits of nature surrounding the place and talk of whatever came to mind. A method of stress-relief for both him and whoever he happened to invite. Although 45 was beginning to get suspicious. Usually, another Doll or two would've joined them at this point, barging in uninvited much to the Commander's amusement. So far, none had come and interrupted things. And she'd sworn that she saw G36 gagging and abducting IDW outside of the Commander's line of sight, taking the now hogtied catgirl to only god knows where.

Suddenly, The Commander stops, looking around and sighing in relief, muttering something under his breath. 45 glanced at their surroundings as well, they'd ended up outside of the compound, on a small hill, a surprisingly unblemished tree standing tall on top of it and giving them some shade from the setting sun. She looked back at the Commander, curious about what he was rifling through his pockets for. She was about to make a teasing remark, her usual fare when interacting with the Commander, when her voice died away to a shocked gasp when the Commander pulled out what he was searching for.

"Commander! Is… is this?" 45 looked down at the small black box the Commander held in his hand, shocked at the implications behind the innocuous little thing. The Commander scratched the back of his head shyly, looking away.

"Uhm… Yes, it _is_ a ring. Just not an oath ring sadly… I couldn't really afford one and its not likely I'll be able to afford one in the future so… I got this instead" He opened the box, revealing a simple silver band with a small topaz embedded in it, little white specks reflecting light from within the gemstone. 45's gaze switched from it to the lenses on the Commander's mask, still in confusion "I know it may not seem like much but… I wanted to give you something to show you that you mean a lot to me. More than you think" 45 looked away, flustered beyond imagination. Now 45 knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of her teasing, so flustered and confused that her digimind was having difficulty processing everything.

"C-Commander, i-is this some kind of payback for all the teasing I've done to you before? I-I know that I can be a little… overbearing at times but th-this little prank is-" Her words got caught in her throat when she looked up, seeing the Commander so close to her and looming over her in an almost intimidating manner.

"It's not a prank, 45. I mean it." He reached down, gently taking her hand in his. "Every moment spent with you, as embarrassing as it was at times, was a joy. Those little moments where somehow, I was able to break that façade of yours and see that genuine side of you, were worth it" He looked her in the eyes, his own, bright and green, visible through the lenses of his gasmask." Your laughter, your words, your smile, your presence, all of it brings me comfort and reassurance like you can't imagine… and… crap this is the 3rd time I'm announcing my undying love to someone and I still don't have any idea how to get it across…" He looked down, shyly looking away and shaking his head and 45 couldn't help but laugh quietly, much to his embarrassment.

"Commander… even in serious moments like this you never fail to lighten up the mood with your natural silliness…" her tone carried a sense of fondness to her words, his gaze looking up to meet hers again. She tilted her head, smirking even through the glowing blush on her cheeks. "Well Commander? Are you going to finish what you've started here?" He seemed to be startled by that, fumbling with the box in his other hand and reopening it, taking out the ring and sliding the box back into his coat pocket. He held hands with her, his other one holding the ring.

"UMP-45… will you accept this ring as a sign of my faith, love and loyalty to you?" he looked hopeful, eyes wide and expectant. She smiled back at him, staring up at his eyes, a rare sight to see due to the mostly reflective material of his lenses. Faintly, a stray thought in her head entertained the idea of saying no before saying yes just to see his reaction to it. She quashed that thought brutally with a metaphorical boot heel and decided to let her actions speak for her instead. She stood up on her toes, reaching up to the Commander's mask and planting a short, chaste kiss on the front nozzle of his mask before leaning over his shoulder, whispering her answer into his ear…

[Return to Present]

"… -5? 45-nee? Are you listening?"

The smg was shaken from her thoughts, pulling her from her reminiscing and bringing her attention to 9.

"So? How what is it? Can you tell us?" 9 insisted, 'or can you only tell me? Maybe?' she _further _insisted over their private neural network, eager curiosity obvious in her actions. 45's expression changed, slipping back to one of her usual playful smirks as she brought a finger to her lips in a shushing motion.

"That's a secret~"

* * *

Pet Problems

"Now, you may all be wondering why I gathered you here today"

The Commander, Persica, Kalina and Sop sat around a table. On the table sat a curious sight. Sleeping in a basket, curled up on themselves, was a pair of smaller versions of M4 and ST-AR15. They almost looked like child-versions of them, except for the fact that they had dog ears and tails of differing sizes for whatever reason.

"Can someone explain how this happened? Please?" Persica and Kalina exchanged looks, Persica raising an eyebrow and Kalina shrugging her shoulders in response. Sop wasn't paying attention at all and was quietly gushing about how cute the miniature, puppy-like members of AR-team looked. The Commander tried to keep a stern look on his face, but even he was unable to do so when Puppy-M4 grabbed on to Puppy-15's tail and began to nibble on it, much to the discomfort of the tail's owner. Sop made a strangled noise of some sort and had to stop herself from scooping up the two in her arms. Admittedly, the Commander wanted to do the same, but there was still the main issue at hand.

"Honestly Commander, I have no idea. Something like what Sopmod II did with Sop Junior was already confusing enough. But creating child-sized puppy-eared versions of M4A1 and ST AR-15? Even I'm at a loss for how this was possible" Persica shook her head as she finished her sentence, then absentmindedly began to run her fingers through Puppy-15's hair, which had the effect of calming her down and making her mewl happily. Kalina already had a phone out and was taking pictures. "Honestly though I don't see how this is a problem of any sort. The original M4A1 and ST AR-15 are both perfectly fine and unharmed after... whatever Sopmod did to create the little ones here" The Commander looked to Sop this time, who was cooing at how Puppy-M4 was hugging Puppy-15's tail like a pillow.

"Ah! I just made some primitive copies of their digi-minds and inserted them into these bodies I made, kinda like how I made Jr! Except I didn't use Sangivs parts for them-." Persica looked askance at Sop, mouthing the words _"Sangvis parts?"_ while Sop continued her explanation. "-Then I decided to add little puppy ears and tails to them and added a couple of animalistic behaviors to them and viola! Puppy-M4!" She nonchalantly picked up Puppy-M4, startling her awake in the process, and lifted her up by the arm pits in front of the Commander. She groggily wiped at her eyes, yawning cutely and blinking as she looked around. Her gaze finally locked on to the Commander and her face lit up with a smile as she began to reach for him while her tail wagged happily. Sop held her out for him to hold and he had no other choice but to do so. In his arms she curled up and started nuzzling her cheek against his chest, her arms wrapping around his neck as best as she could. The Commander felt a warm, happy feeling welling up from within as she started to... purr?

"Sop I thought you said you made her like a puppy. Why and how is she purring?" The Commander didn't mind though. He absentmindedly patted her head as he looked to Sop for answers. She just tilted her head curiously, like it was a stupid question to ask.

"Well you did once say that you like both cats and dogs equally so I thought why not take the best of both worlds and make her purr too!" Sop said this with her arms raised, as if expecting to be praised. Kalina gave her a polite clap while Persica palmed her face in exasperation. The Commander was too busy focusing on how heart meltingly adorable Puppy-M4 was as she slept in his arms to offer a response to that. He felt something pulling on his shirt and looked down to see Puppy-15 had awakened and was pulling on it with a look of reluctant jealousy on her face.

He shifted M4 in his arms so he was holding her with only one and lowered himself to let 15 crawl into his other arm, grasping on to his shirt and settling in to sleep as well. He sighed, standing there awkwardly not knowing what to do. Then he heard a click of a camera going off and looked up to see Kalina taking pictures with her tablet, a cheeky grin on her face. Persica had the faintest hint of a smile on hers and Sop was making strange, excited noises and making grabby hands at the puppy girls in his arms. He couldn't even really reprimand her or say anything out of fear of waking the sleeping bundles of cuteness in his arms.

"I think they're in here 15… ah! Commander, there you… are…"

At the sound of the familiar voices The Commander instinctively turned around to face them, still holding the two sleeping girls in his arms. The room fell into silence, interrupted only by the quiet snores of the two puppy girls in the Commander's arms. He looked at the girls in his arms, then at the three behind him who were in varying states of holding in their laughter, then finally back at the two girls standing by the doorway in varying states of shock.

"…"

"…"

"I can explain-"

"CUUUUUUUTE!"

From behind the two of them the last member of AR-Team came barging in, pushing the two aside and rushing towards the Commander to grab puppy M4 out of his arms to swing her around, shocking the little girl awake.

"CUTE! CUTE! CUTE! SOOOO CUUUUTE!" M16, in a fit of uncharacteristic behavior, was openly gushing about how cute Puppy-M4 was and spinning around with her, lifting her into the air as if to show her off. "Commander! Commander! Were you responsible for this? Is this the results of you doing the nasty with M4!? Well I might just forgive you for this because of HOW ADORABLE YOUR CHILD LOOKS!" she brought the little one to level with her face, rubbing her cheek against hers and playfully twiddling with her ears. "She even has little puppy ears! So cute!" M4 and the Commander mutually blushed red as tomatoes at those comment.

While this was happening, though, the little one didn't seem entirely appreciative of this treatment. Now that the initial shock of being picked up so suddenly had worn off and now her eyes began to tear up, hiccupping as she reached out with her arms towards the Commander.

"P-papa… Papa!" M16 seemed to not notice this, too distracted by the cuteness. At least, until she got dope slapped in the back of the head by AR15, loosening her hold on Puppy-M4 enough to allow regular M4 to take her out of her grip and bring her to the Commander's side. Realizing what she'd just done she scratched the back of her head, chuckling awkwardly as she straightened her posture.

"Ah-ahahah… Uh… sorry about that…" AR15 kept glaring at her, a judging look in her eyes that would've made any lesser person wilt. But M16 was used to ignoring it by now, choosing to ask about the matter at hand. "So, whats going on here? What's with the adorable bundles of joy over there?" She gestured to the Puppy versions of M4 and AR15, the latter sending a judgemental glare at her that was disturbingly similar to that of the original.

M4 looked down at her miniature version, seeing how she'd calmed down considerably now, whether that was due to being closer to the Commander or because she was out of M16's hands she didn't know. The little one looked back up at her, eyes still wet with tears and sniffling as she tried to wipe them away. M4 unconsciously cooed at her, wiping her tears away with her thumb and brushing her fingers through her hair comfortingly. The Commander sighed at the sight, finding it too cute to really respond.

"Ma… Mama?" Puppy-M4 said, unsure, as she looked up at her original. M4, overcome with emotion, hugged her to her chest eliciting a giggle from the smaller girl. The sight was enough to render everyone speechless for a while, only Persica snapping out of it early, clearing her throat to get everyone's attention.

"Those two are apparently miniature versions of you two, M4 and AR15, that Sopmod II managed to put together using fragments of your digiminds that she managed to get copies of. As for why they exist? Well, apparently Sop wanted to make 'gifts' for you and the Commander" She finished her sentence with a sip of her coffee, watching them react in their own ways. M4 was still absorbed in her own little world, walking up to the Commander and cooing about their "daughter", the Commander too busy holding Puppy-15 to pet her. M16 was staring after them with a mildly disturbing look in her eyes, mumbling something under her breath, and AR15 was threatening Sopmod II, to no avail, about violations of privacy concerning their minds. Sop just laughed it off, not minding that AR15 had picked her up and was shaking her around while rattling off threats at her.

Kalina leaned over to Persica, tapping away at something on her phone. "Soooo should I send these pictures over to you or?" Without another word Persica whipped out her phone, the thing sliding out of her sleeve and into her hand so she can hand it to Kalina, her attention never wavering from the Commander and M4. A miniscule hint of a smile playing on the edge of her lips.

"Make it quick, be discrete"

"Okay~"

From that day on, alongside Sopmod II Jr., Puppy-M4 and Puppy-15 would often be seen wandering around the base. Playing around, exploring and generally being a pleasant presence that made everyone all around more relaxed, M4, The Commander and somehow AR15 especially.

* * *

**I LIIIIIIIIIIIVE. **

**And now I deeply apologize for not updating any of my stories over the past few months holy shit why am I this lazy and dumb. The quarantine and other life issues got in the way of things and muddle the equation even more too. **

**I also have to say that I genuinely appreciate whatever reviews y'all post and am still genuinely surprised you people enjoy this when there are plenty of way better quality stories in this archive.**

**BUT ENOUGH EXCUSES. Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter at least. **

**More coming hopefully soon. But no promises. **

**Peace **


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